It’s rare that I find a series or movie that is as good as its book source material. Even more rare is the tv miniseries in American media. But in 2018, HBO made Sharp Objects, a novel written by Gillian Flynn of Gone Girl fame, into an eight-episode series produced by and starring Amy Adams. Camille Preaker is a journalist who goes to her small southern hometown to cover the brutal murders of two young girls and maybe fix her relationship with her mother, Adora (played by Patricia Clarkson). But as the story of the murders unfold Camille is faced by a dark secret. I have to get into spoiler territory to talk about this series, so if you want to watch or read Sharp Objects, I highly suggest you do so. Without further ado, here are five reasons you should watch Sharp Objects.
- Amy Adams – Amy Adams makes this series stand out. She delivers an intense and incredibly moving performance. Her actions and words are delivered with such emotion that you can’t help but feel empathetic. Not only is she delightful as the main character, but also as a producer. She brings life into the story on the screen, and the series would not have the same tone without her.
- Interesting take on Crime Thriller – Sharp Objects is highly unusual for a crime thriller in that most of the violence is off-screen. We don’t see the murders in detail until the end credits scene. We also don’t get shown a lot of over-the-top gore that other thrillers and horror movies tend to adopt. The little violence we do see ties into the main characters’ psyche.
- Mental Health – The little violence we see is tied into a subject that is often overlooked in our everyday media: mental health. Throughout the series, its revealed that Camille struggles with self-harm, alcoholism, and suicidal thoughts. It’s not often that we see a character so explicitly deal with self-harm on a popular tv network. Normalizing discussions of mental health issues is necessary for treating mental disorders. Another mental health topic the show deals with is Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy. MSBP is a disorder where a caregiver, usually a mother, causes an illness or injury in a person to gain sympathy from others. Victims are usually young children or the elderly, so MSBP is considered a form of abuse. (Warning: This is a major spoiler.) Adora is revealed to have this disorder, and it led her to murder Camille’s younger sister, Marian. She also poisons Camille and her half-sister, Amma. As a child, Camille never submit herself to Adora’s care. At one point, Adora states that this is the reason she never loved Camille, which could be the root of Camille’s mental health issues.
- Southern Culture – Alcohol! Passive aggressive white women! Dysfunctional families! And most importantly, ignoring the problem! It’s all exposed with Sharp Objects. Adora is a prime example of this. She’s never without an amaretto sour, condescending and overdramatic. Her family is dysfunctional (though you could probably already tell me that from the above paragraph). Not only that, but she overdramatizes injury for attention and blames Camille.
- A Good, Pulpy Twist – This story pulls you in so many directions while keeping all its secrets hidden. And when you get to the end, you’ll have one of two reactions: shock and confusion or a righteous “I told you so”. I know that I’ve spoiled quite a few things already, but I’ll keep the ending under wraps because you NEED to watch it to get its full affect.